PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - May 19, 2018

Published on May 19, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Nashville Sounds (21-19) vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers (25-13)

Oakland Athletics vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Game #39 of 140/Home #23 of 70 (18-4)

Pitching Probables: NAS-RHP James Naile (4-3, 3.55) vs. OKC-RHP Dennis Santana (NR, -.--)

Saturday, May 19, 2018 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Alex Freedman

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers look to take the lead in their four-game series against the Nashville Sounds when they play tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Dodgers have lost four of their last five games and seven of the last 10, but are tied with fellow American Northern Division team Colorado Springs for the best record in the PCL.

Last Game: The Sounds evened the series against the Dodgers with an 8-4 win Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Sounds brought home the first run of the night on a sacrifice fly by Steve Lombardozzi with the bases loaded in the second inning. A solo homer by Nick Martini led off the third inning, while Jake Smolinski's RBI double and Dustin Garneau's RBI single later in the inning pushed Nashville's lead to 4-0. Donovan Solano's RBI single brought home the first run of the night for the Dodgers in the third inning, but the Sounds got the run back in their next at-bat. Solano's RBI single scored OKC's second run of the night in the fifth inning. With two runners on base, Martini connected on his second homer of the night in the sixth inning to extend the Sounds to an 8-2 lead. Solano's RBI groundout and a RBI single by Alex Verdugo in the seventh inning cut Nashville's lead to 8-4. Oklahoma City starting pitcher Justin DeFratus (2-2) was charged with the loss, allowing eight runs (seven earned) and 10 hits over 5.1 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts. Kendall Graveman (2-0) earned the win for Nashville, allowing two runs and nine hits over 6.0 innings, with two walks and three strikeouts.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Dennis Santana makes his Triple-A debut with OKC tonight...The Dodgers' No. 10 prospect, according to Baseball America, made eight starts for Double-A Tulsa this season, posting a 2.56 ERA over 38.2 innings with 51 strikeouts against 14 walks. He has a deceptive 0-2 record even though he's posted a 1.03 WHIP and held opponents to a .182 average...At the time of his promotion, Santana was tied for the Texas League lead in strikeouts while ranking second in opponent average and fourth in both ERA and WHIP...He last pitched May 14 against Springfield, allowing a season-high seven runs (three earned) and four hits over 4.2 innings with four walks and three strikeouts. After allowing one run and three hits through four innings, Santana and the Drillers committed a series of miscues that led to six runs in the fifth inning...Santana has held opponents to one or no runs in five of his eight starts this season...He matched his career-high with 11 strikeouts May 8 at Springfield and also recorded 10 strikeouts April 16 against Midland...In 2017, between High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa he went 8-7 with a 4.11 ERA and racked up 129 strikeouts in 118.1 IP. He also made two starts in the playoffs for the Drillers last season, allowing one unearned run and nine hits over 13.0 innings...Santana was originally signed as a shortstop as an international free agent in March 2013 at the age of 16 out of the Dominican Republic and converted to a pitcher in 2014.

Against the Sounds: 2018: 1-1 2017: 11-5 All-time: 177-145 At OKC: 93-68

The Dodgers and Sounds are meeting for their first series of the season...In 2017, the Dodgers won the season series, 11-5, posting at least 10 wins against the Sounds in a season series for the third straight year. The Dodgers went 6-2 at home and 5-3 in Music City...The teams split their final series of 2017 - a four-game series in Nashville June 30-July 3, 2017...OKC outscored the Sounds, 85-54, last season, led by Willie Calhoun, who collected 24 hits and 14 RBI in 16 games, along with 10 runs scored and three homers...Dodgers pitchers racked up 158 strikeouts in 16 meetings with the Sounds in 2017 for an average of 9.9 per game...The Dodgers have won seven of the last eight home games against the Sounds by a combined score of 48-24.

Home is Where the Hits Are: Despite Friday's loss, the Dodgers still own the best home winning percentage in the Minors, going 18-4 (.818) to start the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and also have the most home wins in the Minors...OKC is slashing .318/.383/.487 at home, scoring an average of six runs per game on an average of 10.8 hits per game. The team has scored eight-plus runs in seven games and collected 14 or more hits in five games. They've also scored at least four runs in an inning 10 times...Donovan Solano paces the offense with 31 hits at home, batting .431. Henry Ramos has a team-leading 18 RBI in Bricktown this season, while Breyvic Valera has scored 19 runs.

Dominant Donovan: Donovan Solano tied his season high in RBI Friday, driving in three of the Dodgers' four runs. He also collected two more hits for his team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the season, as well as his third straight (6x14, 5 RBI). Solano paces the Dodgers with 47 hits through 34 games and his .359 batting average ranks fifth-best in the PCL.

Locastro Lowdown: Tim Locastro tied his season-high with three hits Friday night. Through his first two games since being optioned to OKC, Locastro is 5-for-9 with a double, homer, four RBI and three runs scored...Overall this season, Locastro has 30 hits and 23 runs through 23 games with OKC, including 10 multi-hit efforts. In 54 career games with OKC over the past two seasons, Locastro is slashing .378/.453/.551.

Growing Garlick: Kyle Garlick did not play Friday night, but went 2-for-4 Thursday with a RBI double to extend his hitting streak to eight games, tying his career high, last accomplished June 19-26, 2016 with Double-A Tulsa. Following a 2-for-21 start after his promotion to OKC, Garlick is 12-for-29 (.414) with six home runs and nine RBI. He paces the Dodgers with six homers, and his 11 total homers between OKC and Double-A Tulsa lead all Dodgers minor leaguers this season. Additionally, his six homers since May 8 are tied for the most in the Minors along with High-A Inland Empire's Jared Walsh.

Rock Steady: Catcher Rocky Gale has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, batting .386 (22x57) with six extra-base hits (3 HR) and nine RBI while raising his season average from .200 to .326. He's been even hotter over his last 12 games, going 20-for-45 (.444) with eight multi-hit outings...Between Gale, Cael Brockmeyer and Kyle Farmer, Dodgers catchers have combined to bat .355 (49x138) with 22 RBI.

Rematch Remix: Tonight Dennis Santana and Nashville's James Naile will square off against each other for the first time since the deciding Game 5 of the 2017 Texas League Championship Series. Naile was victorious for the Midland RockHounds, scattering five singles over six scoreless innings with six strikeouts. Santana also went six innings for Tulsa and gave up one unearned run in the first inning, which proved to the difference in Midland's 1-0 victory to claim a fourth straight Texas League title. Santana allowed six hits and struck out seven.

Around the Horn: Entering tonight, C.C. Lee leads all PCL relievers with a .108 opponent average and ranks second with an average of 16.76 strikeouts per nine innings...Alex Verdugo has hit safely in all five games since rejoining the team, going 7-for-21 with a double, three RBI and four runs...Jake Peter has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 15-for-43 (.349).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 19, 2018


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